Design and experiment of a vertical fixed-wing UAV based on electric culver

Abstract In recent years, drones have played an important role in warfare. In response to the issues of high noise, slow flight speed, and poor maneuverability of traditional rotary-wing vertical take-off and landing UAVs, as well as the complexities and high energy consumption of traditional tilt-rotor structures, a novel fixed-wing UAV with electrically controlled thrust vectoring based on the ducted fan concept was designed. Firstly, the selection and analysis of the wing landing gear were carried out. Secondly, the mechanism analysis and strength verification were conducted for the designed thrust vectoring three-axis rotating nozzle. Finally, a servo control method was proposed, and a prototype was manufactured for flight testing. The results validated that compared to similar power-level rotary-wing vertical take-off UAVs, the speed of this UAV increased by 43.2%, and the maneuvering radius improved by 56.79%.